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The Chainsaw Man Anime's Style Feels Off


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Joker#941490



Joined: 15 Aug 2022
Posts: 265
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:16 pm Reply with quote
Ralph Snackshi wrote:
Boy Howdy wrote:

Gotta pad out the front page somehow!

Weird logic tho, people’s opinions on adapted work means you… won’t engage with source material? Even if, I dunno, said source material might be entertaining/meaningful on its own merits? Ahhh maybe you’re exaggerating! I hope so, anyway.


Yeah, I am exaggerating a little. I do like manga, its just that I get so tired hearing people say "oh the manga did this, the manga did that, the manga is better, etc," and disregarding the anime because of it that I get turned off from reading the manga as a result.

And I understand being disappointed when an adaptation misses the mark or doesn't retain things from the source material, be it the art style or parts of the story, but I can still appreciate that they operate in different ways and enjoy them in their own right. I dunno, I just wish more people could see it that way...Maybe they do and I've only been hearing the loudest, most annoying minority.



Especially the popular quote "the anime is bad read the manga".
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musouka



Joined: 09 Sep 2003
Posts: 718
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:33 pm Reply with quote
Man, let me just play the world's tiniest violin for all the CSM fans and their diamond shoes that are tragically one half size too small.

There are so many series with terrible animation and direction out there that are near and dear to my heart, series I think are just as--or even more important--than CSM. I think that's more of an issue than a lushly animated version that has a mood that's slightly different from the source material.
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2458
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 6:44 pm Reply with quote
Diamond shoes sound terribly uncomfortable. And half a size too small? God, can you imagine the blisters?
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Metamarphosis



Joined: 24 Aug 2016
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:12 pm Reply with quote
Disappointed with this article. You rant like a twitter kid. You disrespect hard work of director and animator. This show visual so gorgeous and latest episode is better than manga.
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AsleepBySunset



Joined: 07 Sep 2022
Posts: 233
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:49 pm Reply with quote
Metamarphosis wrote:
Disappointed with this article. You rant like a twitter kid. You disrespect hard work of director and animator. This show visual so gorgeous and latest episode is better than manga.


Art is subjective, something which looks gorgeous to you, doesn't look gorgeous to others. And no one is morally obliged to like something you like, just because the director worked hard, or you thought it looked brilliant. Other people can't actually see through your eyes and look at say, CSM and see what you see, some people think gohands looks brilliant, but I can't look through their eyes and see what looks great about gohands.

Honestly, it feels like such a shame that you're not allowed to criticise the anime studios with the largest fanbases like shaft of mappa online, even if you sandwich the critique (eg, "it looks great but somethings off") people will harass you, and if you just say it looks bad without the compliment sandwich, people still harass you.
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Cardcaptor Takato



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 5058
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 9:02 pm Reply with quote
I feel like almost any issue people have with MAPPA's animation can be answered with why do they keep overburdening MAPPA with so many projects when it's well documented how overworked and underpaid their animators are which I enjoy the Chainsaw Man anime but I don't know why it seems like anime fandom is willing to overlook that aspect of MAPPA for this series.
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Metamarphosis



Joined: 24 Aug 2016
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 9:03 pm Reply with quote
AsleepBySunset wrote:
you're not allowed to criticise the anime studios with the largest fanbases like shaft of mappa online, even if you sandwich the critique (eg, "it looks great but somethings off") people will harass you, and if you just say it looks bad without the compliment sandwich, people still harass you.


The show is good. I enjoy every episode. I also deserve to defend what i like. Article like this should post on twitter, not on ANN website.
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NeverConvex
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Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2458
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 10:46 pm Reply with quote
The article doesn't claim the show isn't good, though. It claims its style doesn't feel like the manga, and that it loses something for it, despite still being a good show. I'm still not sure I buy its argument -- I haven't read the manga, but I agree with everything Everlasting Coconut argued on the second page, and their post disputed a number of the specific claims about tone and energy in the article.

Anyway, I think there are better ways to approach disagreement about a show than *I* like this thing so don't post bad things about it here!. I guess I agree with AsleepBySunset in that respect, even though I rather like the show and am skeptical of most of this piece's claims (excepting the gritty linework vs clean animation/CG one, which seems pretty hard to dispute).
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oogenesis



Joined: 06 Sep 2021
Posts: 24
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 10:59 pm Reply with quote
Boy Howdy wrote:
Ralph Snackshi wrote:
Lol this is like the time Paste Magazine published a rant from some guy who was like "I'm DONE with Final Fantasy man!" Like this belongs on reddit not a legit website that publishes news.

This kinda attitude toward adaptation is the reason I never read manga.


Gotta pad out the front page somehow!

Weird logic tho, people’s opinions on adapted work means you… won’t engage with source material?


not weird at all. other people's reaction might also be yours.

if there is an extremely vocal portion of a fanbase screaming that a manga is worlds better than its adaptation, it's not unnatural to look at that response and think: 'gee, if i read the manga, i'm probably gonna hate the anime. i actually liked what i saw. why spoil something i enjoyed?'
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sirdano1



Joined: 06 Jul 2011
Posts: 300
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 11:18 pm Reply with quote
Newsflash: the manga isn't the amazing piece of art you seem to think it is. It's just a slightly above average shounen just like the anime.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1015
PostPosted: Fri Nov 18, 2022 11:42 pm Reply with quote
The point of the article isn't that the anime isn't exactly like the manga, the point is that the adaptation is boring and feels weirdly self-important (which it is), which really isn't in the spirit of the manga.
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latenightvisitor



Joined: 19 Nov 2022
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:56 am Reply with quote
I think the style of the anime adaptation is effective. But, I get it. The author doesn't feel the impact of the anime's art direction as much as the manga's (or in a way that fits it as well as it could), and while the adaptation looks amazing, something more true to the mangaka's style would be cooler in the author's opinion. I think that makes sense. This isn't too ranty for me... Articulating some personal let-downs is far from trashing it or saying that anime adaptations have to be exactly like the manga.

I don't agree that the mangaka's style/mark is thaaat unique. Still, it definitely presents the story in a more unique way.

Also, the lists of manga-praising adjectives were pretty hilarious to me. Enjoy, enjoy.
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TheCanipaEffect



Joined: 27 Apr 2017
Posts: 52
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 1:18 am Reply with quote
I think it's a perspective worth thinking about, but I disagree with the author's perspective on the purpose of adaptation. In fact, one of the big appeals for me is that the team is working to their own strengths, showing a new filmic version of the already very popular manga. This isn't a "read the manga instead" case, it's a "they both have a different appeal, read/watch both."

In fact, my biggest complaints about the adaptation is that they don't change more about it. The scene where we see Aki's daily routine get disrupted by Power is perfect. It's a scene entirely for the sake of utilizing this team's strengths, and I'm looking forward to more like that.
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CrowLia



Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5528
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:22 am Reply with quote
I'm not familiar with the manga, so I don't know how much the adaptation improves or demerits the material itself, but I do think the style of the show is a misfire, most notably the overall color palette. The only thing I've known about this franchise are the manga covers and they have bright, vivid, colors that clash with each other, and I expected something along those lines from the anime version. Instead I'm getting... I'm gonna call it the modern MAPPA color palette, it's all very browns, beiges, dirty yellows and dark blues. It seems too gloomy and occasionally bland for a show whose main character's head turns into a literal chainsaw. So while I find the character animation jaw-dropping, the overall visual presentation hasn't really lived up to my, admittedly, biased expectations
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MF65



Joined: 14 Dec 2017
Posts: 91
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2022 6:44 am Reply with quote
The main problem with Chainsaw Man's adaptation is the hype it had going for it even before the anime was announced. Manga fans were plugging the manga as the second coming of christ. I was honestly put off from reading it for a long time because of that holier than thou attitude. Having read it now, I do think it's a great piece of fiction. It's engaging, and it has some truly incredible panels. It makes you feel for its characters. I have to admit that, had someone like Denji been in less capable hands, he wouldn't be nearly as likeable as Fujimoto's Denji is. I still don't think it's the best thing since sliced bread, though.
Then, when the anime was announced, the hype got out of control (its fans were clamouring it would surpass even Demon Slayer. Which, lol. No way something this niche would ever get the mass appeal of Kimetsu). It would be pretty much impossible to live up to that amount of hype. And it didn't. Of course it didn't. The anime adaptation could've done everything perfectly. Have the "gritty" look some fans are clamouring it's missing. Keep the silly faces instead of the more "realistic" ones the director is going for. Splash the screen in the type of colour palette "Idaten deities" had. It still wouldn't have been enough. Simply because the expectations were way too unrealistic.
All in all, it's a good show. There are some things it does better than the manga, there are other things it does worse. But it's a good thing it's not just a panel by panel copy of the manga. It should be looked at as its own thing. It's not above criticism, but most of what it gets is unwarranted.
Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
I feel like almost any issue people have with MAPPA's animation can be answered with why do they keep overburdening MAPPA with so many projects when it's well documented how overworked and underpaid their animators are which I enjoy the Chainsaw Man anime but I don't know why it seems like anime fandom is willing to overlook that aspect of MAPPA for this series.

They're not talking about it because the animators in Chainsaw Man, specifically, are among the best paid in the industry (only behind Toei's, if I recall correctly). They also have perks like health insurance, paid holidays and a proper work schedule. Which is nothing worth of praise, since this should be the norm, not the exception, but it's a step in the right direction. I feel like your concern is misplaced in this case, but I sure do hope you put the same energy when commenting on shows like, say, Bocchi the rock or Spy x Family.
AsleepBySunset wrote:

some people think gohands looks brilliant, but I can't look through their eyes and see what looks great about gohands.

That's possibly the worse comparison you could make because I dare you to find anyone who thinks anything by gohands looks brilliant.
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